After placing fourth at the Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen on Sunday afternoon, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing quickly turned things around to arrive at the Nashville Superspeedway on Thursday for this weekend’s Firestone Indy 200.

Joining the team earlier this week was veteran race engineer, Larry Curry, as the team’s new Director of Competition.

His role will be to work with race engineers John Dick and Chris Finch along with team manager Gary Neal to ensure Dreyer & Reinbold’s continued success on the track.

It is a reunion of sorts as Curry worked with team co-owner Robbie Buhl in the late 90s when Buhl drove for Team Menard.

This weekend’s Firestone Indy 200 is the eighth IndyCar Series race on the 1.33-mile oval just outside of Nashville.  Buddy Rice will drive the #15 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing machine while Milka Duno will drive the #23 CITGO/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing machine.

This will be Rice’s sixth race at Nashville.  His best start was in 2004 when he won the pole.  That year was also his best finish with a 6th, after leading 52 laps.

He is coming into this race having posted his first top-five of the season last weekend.  He also has three additional top-ten finishes in 2008 (8th in Indianapolis, 10th in Milwaukee, 8th in Texas).

This will be Duno’s first race at the Nashville Superspeedway.  She has made six starts so far in 2008 with a best starting position of 16th (Homestead-Miami Speedway) and a best finish of 16th (Kansas Speedway).

Practice began on Thursday with a rookie test session.  Duno was allowed to take part for the first 30 minutes and posted a best lap of 198.536 mph.

Official practice begins on Friday at 11:15 a.m. EST.  A second practice will take place at 2:45 p.m. EST with qualifying slated for 6:30 p.m. EST.  These sessions can be seen live via streaming video on indycar.com.

The Firestone Indy 200 can be seen live and in HD on ESPN on Saturday night at 8 p.m. EST.

QUOTES

#15 DREYER & REINBOLD RACING Honda Dallara Driver Buddy Rice

“I’m excited about racing here in Nashville.  Other than the Borg Warner Trophy, the Gibson Guitar given to the winner here has to be one of the coolest trophies you can win in this series.  This track is unique in that it’s 1.33-miles and it’s all concrete.  It presents some unique challenges, but at the end of the day, things are still the same in that we have to adapt the car to whatever the conditions and the track gives us.  I’m hoping to put together another solid run for the Dreyer and Reinbold team.  We’ll see what this weekend brings us.”

#23 CITGO/DREYER & REINBOLD RACING Honda Dallara Driver Milka Duno

“This will be my first time racing the Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.  It is a difficult track, and I am ready to work hard with my team to have a good result here.”

Team Co-Owner, Dennis Reinbold

(On Larry Curry): “We’re happy to welcome Larry to our organization.  We are focused on building upon our latest momentum of competitiveness, and we look to continue to grow Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and build for the future.”